Agility training

[Finkie_Mom]

Aww yay! Backup is looking good! I think he will get there, and when he does, he will be amazing!!!

[monkeys23]

He's looking really good to me. Granted I know next to nothing about agility.

[nikkiluvsu15]

Last night at agility we were working on a lot of distance work and "angle" turns. She definitely worked her brain last night... this was her slow speed

I think she is finally grasping the turn command, but she still has some hitches every now and then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ta-jhmhkQ

Here is one time where I was sending her to an "out jump", she is weird with distance work sometimes. Sometimes she doesn't mind it, but other times she does not want to be far from me at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Z7jITY4kA

More "out" command work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGTG49ez0Gw

As you can see in this video, she still has trouble with turn/rear crosses at times. Other than that, I really liked this sequence she did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dys6mCPcx0A

[Shai]

We just finished up our last trial and last class for the next 2 months or so. Plenty to do on break though and it's nice to be relatively unstructured.

Kim's still out of the game after twinging her back in May (not during agility). Hoping to get the green light to start conditioning her back up soon. She had a good year up til then and was starting to tick off the QQs and demand to run agility instead of just agreeing to run. Figures. Now I just hope she recovers fully and gets to play again.

Entered Webby in a trial as a lark...13 months since his last trial, virtually no training in between, first time on ExcellentB...and he QQs lol. Earned about 25 pts too...pretty good for Webby. Running mid/small dogs really is so much easier in terms of consistent Qing...more strides to play with.

Mira earned her first QQ a little while ago. Came close several times but little babydog errors or handler-in-twilight-zone errors left us with a lot of singleton Qs and placements. I was really stressed out for a bit there and it affected my running style quite a bit...head wasn't in the game. Back now though, much to Mira's joy. Hard to remember she's only 2 sometimes.

She fell off the dogwalk about 3 weeks ago at a trial. Bad tunnel-DW line...short distance and shot them out to the side...she was flying along and didn't get quite straightened out when she charged up the ramp and just never got her feet under herself. Made it halfway across the level section on sheer inertia before she had to bail (I prefer my dogs not fight it if they think they an't hold on)...fell, rolled, scrambling for purchase on the grass and jumped into the contact zone then looked at me like "YOU SAW NOTHING! LET'S GOOOO!!!!" Nutterbutt. Thanked the judge and left the course after telling her what a good girl she was for her nice contact lol. She ended up being fine but with her she wouldn't show an injury due to stoicism and adrenalin so scratched her for the rest of the day. At least she hasn't done her little teeter trick in a while lol.

Also ran my instructor's BC a couple times and am in love. One of those over the top super twitchy agility-crazed highly trained superdogs. So much fun.

Anyway there's our agility update...know I haven't updated in a while.

[nikkiluvsu15]

We had a great night at agility! Harleigh had a blast, as usual. I think her favorite part was getting hosed down before we got started though Crazy water lovin' dog!

Didn't get many videos tonight, but this was our first run of the night. This is an excellent course, I believe. Ignoring her little "crazy lab on the loose" in the beginning, I was pleased with it. We are still having trouble with her a-frame at times - ugh. Gonna start working on that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYOamEyAwJc

[Aleron]

Savvy's Running Contacts are progressing and he's on the low dog walk now!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151086024935850

[Laurelin]

Summer had her first for fun foundations class today. She did great for an old little dog. When she found out she was getting to have a turn playing, she did a pogo stick impression that made me smile. For some reason though today I kept noticing how grey her face is.

Mia and I worked on front crosses today and she did pretty good. She was kind of worked up and breaking stays a lot. We've been working stays so much lately an I am seeing some progress but they are just not Mia's strong point in any way.

And my instructor has started talking about how she wants a papillon now.

[SaraB]

Originally Posted by nikkiluvsu15

We had a great night at agility! Harleigh had a blast, as usual. I think her favorite part was getting hosed down before we got started though Crazy water lovin' dog!

Didn't get many videos tonight, but this was our first run of the night. This is an excellent course, I believe. Ignoring her little "crazy lab on the loose" in the beginning, I was pleased with it. We are still having trouble with her a-frame at times - ugh. Gonna start working on that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYOamEyAwJc

Harliegh looks awesome!! I love her enthusiasm!!

Originally Posted by Aleron

Savvy's Running Contacts are progressing and he's on the low dog walk now!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151086024935850

It's looking so fantastic! I can't wait to see the completed behavior!

Originally Posted by Laurelin

Summer had her first for fun foundations class today. She did great for an old little dog. When she found out she was getting to have a turn playing, she did a pogo stick impression that made me smile. For some reason though today I kept noticing how grey her face is.

Mia and I worked on front crosses today and she did pretty good. She was kind of worked up and breaking stays a lot. We've been working stays so much lately an I am seeing some progress but they are just not Mia's strong point in any way.

And my instructor has started talking about how she wants a papillon now.

Go Summer!! I bet she'll love it. 99% sure Mia makes me want a papillon too.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Originally Posted by SaraB

Looks good! Have you tried throwing the reward ahead of him? Helps shape the lowered head through the weaves, resulting in quicker weaves overall.

We're going back and throwing now. It's become too obsessive for him to blow the last set and come back with a "why you no give tug!?" look.

Ahhh a learning experience...

Here is B today on his 2o2o, we're getting a bit less creeping when we do the whole frame because of this so I'll keep trying for a bit. He seems to really be understanding where I want his stop on the aframe...

http://youtu.be/Ex3m9a5GVlg

[SaraB]

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

We're going back and throwing now. It's become too obsessive for him to blow the last set and come back with a "why you no give tug!?" look.

Ahhh a learning experience...

Here is B today on his 2o2o, we're getting a bit less creeping when we do the whole frame because of this so I'll keep trying for a bit. He seems to really be understanding where I want his stop on the aframe...

http://youtu.be/Ex3m9a5GVlg

Using a non-reward marker will help solve that too! And as long as you keep failures low, it shouldn't diminish speed/drive at all.

For the 2o2o, it looks like he has a good understanding! To help them learn to drive into the 2o2o position I like to set a jump right next to the a-frame on the decent by the contact zone. I then ask the dog to jump from right next to the a-frame, over the jump and to land in the 2o2o position. Hope that makes sense, cuz I managed to confuse myself with that one. That way there's no confusion about sending up the a-frame and having to turn around when you do the whole frame.